About halfway through the game now (I think?), and I like teams C and D, but I really hate Q Team. There is nothing likable about Mira's character, and as "hot" as she supposedly is, those unearthly green eyes ruin it for me. Eric is a pathetic loser with virtually no redeeming qualities, and I just don't give a crap about Q.

At least in VLR, I was able to find something I liked about most of the new characters, but in a game where you have only five new characters (six, if Zero ends up being someone outside the teams), it's a problem if I end up liking less than half of them. My judgement on Zero will have to wait until I understand his/her motive though.

Of course, Carlos and Diana had a leg up on the competition just because they're voiced by Tomokazu Sugita and Mamiko Noto, respectively. Even so, I rather like their characters regardless (I might possibly end up liking Q a bit more depending on what happens, but I'm not holding my breath).

Why are you guys saying that Left was dropped? Wasn't the 'Left will appear but not as the man we knew in VLR' comment referring to Sean, since his personality is based off him and everything?

So I finished the game just yesterday. I think overall it's at the level of 999 but pretty far from VLR in my personal scale.

And now more long and spoilery thoughts:

Spoiler:

First off, the art style was borderline narmy. The derp faces the characters kept making just made laugh in the middle of extremely serious situations. Junperi's head in the pantry is one of the worst offenders. I think VLR's style of using sprites and 3D cutscenes when necessary was way better.

The fragments thing was kinda cool as a narrative experiment but I don't think it was implemented to well. A lot of characters are left hanging in many histories (like, what happened with Phi in the history with the rec room) and the way they're unlocked makes you play all the puzzles first and then see the story, instead of being interconnected. I also missed the fact of mixing the characters and seeing different interactions depending on the path you choose, which was one of the best parts of 999 and VLR.

Now, for the characters, I don't think they're particularly better or worse than in the other installments, although I've never considered character development to be one of the main strengths of this games.

Akane and Junpei seem to change personalities in every game they appear. I guess it makes sense considering the situation, but sometimes it seems like a cheap way to build tension between them that in the end doesn't go anywhere so...what's the point?

Carlos is the Quark of this ZTD. The game makes him looks like there's going to be some huge twist with him but...nope. He's just a noble firefighter that wants to do the right thing. We don't even know why he's even there. Phi, Akane and Sigma sneaked in. Junpei wanted to find Akane. Mira had to be to add danger or whatever (although the Decision game was already pretty dangerous without her) and Eric tagged along. But Carlos? The only thing that makes him special is that he's a SHIFTer, but that's not so special when half the cast can do it. Why it had to be him as opposed to anyone else?

I could say the same for Phi, but her case is actually worse because she's been set up for two games for...basically nothing. Her presence there doesn't add anything. The only big twist involving her doesn't require her presence, her only relevant purpose is getting injected with Radical-6 in one history and her biggest secret is that her hair is naturally red (I've just realized that that was foreshadowing as I was writing the sentence. Really, I'm not kidding XD). She was so underused that I was expecting her to be Zero. I still think it would have been cool. Maybe not as the girl, we know, but she's a SHIFTer that's been transported through spacetime twice. I'm sure some alternate version of her could have pulled the same shit as Delta. She could have even used the same motivations.

Sigma seems to be two different characters. In the cutscenes he's all serious as someone his age is supposed to be, but in the room puzzles he's happily cracking jokes about Phi's chest size. Which is pretty awkward now after the big reveal.

Diana is basically Luna, which makes a lot of sense and since Luna was one of my favorites characters from VLR, I obviously like her.

And speaking of Luna, Sean's twist was basically the same as hers, just not that well done, so...whatever.

I liked Mira a lot. I think she must be my favorite 'evil player' of the trilogy but she doesn't really has much of an impact on anything. I didn't like that Dio and Ace were behind 85% of the stuff that happened in their respective games either, but there has to be some middle ground.

I also liked Eric, because he reacted to most things as a normal human being would if they were put in that situation.

I liked most of the endings, but sadly the ones that I didn't like were the final ones.

I thought the Q-1 ending was pretty good and gave Mira some character development that I honestly didn't expect her to get. I found her description of the warmth of Eric's heart almost cute. Is that too weird? Because I think that's what they were going for.

The endings leading up to VLR's reality were fairly satisfying and explained most things I wanted to know, although they left a plothole or two around.

The babies' twist was probably the only thing in the game that actually managed to blow my mind, as opposed to VLR where everything blew my mind. My only problem with it it that it doesn't really go anywhere. The fact that Delta is Diana's and Sigma's son is not brought up at all after the Zero reveal. Not even a 'I'm not angry, I'm disappointed'? So much wasted potential.

The Zero reveal was pretty lame. It's not that I can't believe it, but more that it feels like a copout. Isn't it one of Knock's rules? That the culprit can't be someone who hasn't been introduced? And it's not even broken in a incredibly smart way like it happened with all the twists in VLR. And Delta isn't that great as a character, either. He just comes out and says 'My motivations are complex'. Have you ever heard about 'Show, don't tell', sir? Or what about at least bothering to explain why your motives are complex instead of using your kinda asspully ability to shoot yourself? Because the only motives we really know are a)assuring his own existence like Akane was trying to do in 999 and b) preventing a huge catastrophe like Sigma was trying to do in VLR. And it isn't clear why he needed those specific people to do that. Diana and Sigma are obvious, and I guess that Akane, Junpei and Phi are necessary due to their adventures, but what about the others. Was Mira there just to increase danger or was it a punishment for her crimes? Was Eric relevant or did Delta just allow him to join to make it 9? Why did he choose Carlos? And what purpose did the Decision Game serve exactly?

As for the final ending, my only thought was 'That's it'? But I guess there really was no other option other than ' And they lived happily ever after' if they wanted to actually conclude the saga. The only reason all the twists in VLR worked was that they were justified by Sigma's plan, and the plan itself only made sense if there was a sequel in the horizon. So it was either a simple ending like this one or an ending full of crazy twist that leaves behind more questions than answers, and I don't think that would have satisfied people either. I would have liked to know at least what happened with the characters. The epilogue files at the end were fanfic-cky as hell and they didn't even include Diana, Phi and Sigma.

Spoiler: The Cast

I actually loathed Mira and how she was handled. In her heart ripper ending I actually almost praised it for a semi-accurate portrayal of psychoticism. Specifically her direct route to her objectives without any understanding of consequences. Then she describes how she feels out of touch with emotions (which is why she tries to touch hearts) Left that ending feeling great....then I found it wildly inconsistent. She kills Junpei in a brutal method that doesn't even match her MO (his chest is completely intact) and in a number of endings she show's emotion as well. She stabs Phi with radical 6 showing an understanding of vengeance and anger even though its almost certainly the path she would have chosen. She cackles maniacally as she kills Eric in the path where they all inject radical 6. All wildly inconsistent with her understanding of emotions and her back story. The other murderers had a plan and reason behind their kills which made Mira seem like cheap tension.

Eric however I agree with you on. I can see the worst parts of myself in him and that's disconcerting but it does make him kind of relatable in his normality

Made by Chesu+Zombee

You thought you could be safe in your courts, with your laws and attorneys to protect you. In this world only I am law, my word is fact, my power is absolute.

I went into this game with little expectations. I only played VLR after finding out that a third game was in the making, and after that I avoided any news of this game like the plague. That said, while I did like the game, it was definitely weaker than the previous two. I blame the fragmented storytelling. I get the idea behind it, but for the first half, the game was basically "do one puzzle room, life or death choice, game over."

Spoiler:

Zero I was particularly disappointed with. we're given a build up of who he is from VLR, only to find out that he's just been putting on an act. Which would be fine on its own, but then they game tries to sell us on his "c o m p l e x m o t i v e s," which hardly get any time devoted to them. There's a religious extremist that's going to start a nuclear holocaust and wipe out all of humanity? Delta has no idea who started it or when it will happen. As far as I know, this religious extremist might not even exist. Maybe it's Delta and he just heard wrong. Also he just happens to be 124 and perfectly healthy? Even goes on to the VLR timeline in the same condition? I was expecting something like his body produces telomerase more efficiently than normal humans, or maybe he was capable of mind surfing, but nope, he's just really old.The characters, I don't really have much to say that hasn't already been said. Akane should have been the cynical one, Phi was underused, Sigma and Diana were okay. Eric, I hated throughout, but looking back, I can see what his character represents.Still, the D2 ending is probably my favorite ending in the series. It perfectly captured the feeling of despair that DR wishes it could replicate.

"It's never too late to learn that growing old doesn't have to mean growing up. Stay curious, stay weird, stay kind, and don't let anyone ever tell you you aren't smart or brave or worthy enough." -Stanford Pines, Gravity Falls

Why are you guys saying that Left was dropped? Wasn't the 'Left will appear but not as the man we knew in VLR' comment referring to Sean, since his personality is based off him and everything?

So I finished the game just yesterday. I think overall it's at the level of 999 but pretty far from VLR in my personal scale.

And now more long and spoilery thoughts:

Spoiler:

First off, the art style was borderline narmy. The derp faces the characters kept making just made laugh in the middle of extremely serious situations. Junperi's head in the pantry is one of the worst offenders. I think VLR's style of using sprites and 3D cutscenes when necessary was way better.

The fragments thing was kinda cool as a narrative experiment but I don't think it was implemented to well. A lot of characters are left hanging in many histories (like, what happened with Phi in the history with the rec room) and the way they're unlocked makes you play all the puzzles first and then see the story, instead of being interconnected. I also missed the fact of mixing the characters and seeing different interactions depending on the path you choose, which was one of the best parts of 999 and VLR.

Now, for the characters, I don't think they're particularly better or worse than in the other installments, although I've never considered character development to be one of the main strengths of this games.

Akane and Junpei seem to change personalities in every game they appear. I guess it makes sense considering the situation, but sometimes it seems like a cheap way to build tension between them that in the end doesn't go anywhere so...what's the point?

Carlos is the Quark of this ZTD. The game makes him looks like there's going to be some huge twist with him but...nope. He's just a noble firefighter that wants to do the right thing. We don't even know why he's even there. Phi, Akane and Sigma sneaked in. Junpei wanted to find Akane. Mira had to be to add danger or whatever (although the Decision game was already pretty dangerous without her) and Eric tagged along. But Carlos? The only thing that makes him special is that he's a SHIFTer, but that's not so special when half the cast can do it. Why it had to be him as opposed to anyone else?

I could say the same for Phi, but her case is actually worse because she's been set up for two games for...basically nothing. Her presence there doesn't add anything. The only big twist involving her doesn't require her presence, her only relevant purpose is getting injected with Radical-6 in one history and her biggest secret is that her hair is naturally red (I've just realized that that was foreshadowing as I was writing the sentence. Really, I'm not kidding XD). She was so underused that I was expecting her to be Zero. I still think it would have been cool. Maybe not as the girl, we know, but she's a SHIFTer that's been transported through spacetime twice. I'm sure some alternate version of her could have pulled the same shit as Delta. She could have even used the same motivations.

Sigma seems to be two different characters. In the cutscenes he's all serious as someone his age is supposed to be, but in the room puzzles he's happily cracking jokes about Phi's chest size. Which is pretty awkward now after the big reveal.

Diana is basically Luna, which makes a lot of sense and since Luna was one of my favorites characters from VLR, I obviously like her.

And speaking of Luna, Sean's twist was basically the same as hers, just not that well done, so...whatever.

I liked Mira a lot. I think she must be my favorite 'evil player' of the trilogy but she doesn't really has much of an impact on anything. I didn't like that Dio and Ace were behind 85% of the stuff that happened in their respective games either, but there has to be some middle ground.

I also liked Eric, because he reacted to most things as a normal human being would if they were put in that situation.

I liked most of the endings, but sadly the ones that I didn't like were the final ones.

I thought the Q-1 ending was pretty good and gave Mira some character development that I honestly didn't expect her to get. I found her description of the warmth of Eric's heart almost cute. Is that too weird? Because I think that's what they were going for.

The endings leading up to VLR's reality were fairly satisfying and explained most things I wanted to know, although they left a plothole or two around.

The babies' twist was probably the only thing in the game that actually managed to blow my mind, as opposed to VLR where everything blew my mind. My only problem with it it that it doesn't really go anywhere. The fact that Delta is Diana's and Sigma's son is not brought up at all after the Zero reveal. Not even a 'I'm not angry, I'm disappointed'? So much wasted potential.

The Zero reveal was pretty lame. It's not that I can't believe it, but more that it feels like a copout. Isn't it one of Knock's rules? That the culprit can't be someone who hasn't been introduced? And it's not even broken in a incredibly smart way like it happened with all the twists in VLR. And Delta isn't that great as a character, either. He just comes out and says 'My motivations are complex'. Have you ever heard about 'Show, don't tell', sir? Or what about at least bothering to explain why your motives are complex instead of using your kinda asspully ability to shoot yourself? Because the only motives we really know are a)assuring his own existence like Akane was trying to do in 999 and b) preventing a huge catastrophe like Sigma was trying to do in VLR. And it isn't clear why he needed those specific people to do that. Diana and Sigma are obvious, and I guess that Akane, Junpei and Phi are necessary due to their adventures, but what about the others. Was Mira there just to increase danger or was it a punishment for her crimes? Was Eric relevant or did Delta just allow him to join to make it 9? Why did he choose Carlos? And what purpose did the Decision Game serve exactly?

As for the final ending, my only thought was 'That's it'? But I guess there really was no other option other than ' And they lived happily ever after' if they wanted to actually conclude the saga. The only reason all the twists in VLR worked was that they were justified by Sigma's plan, and the plan itself only made sense if there was a sequel in the horizon. So it was either a simple ending like this one or an ending full of crazy twist that leaves behind more questions than answers, and I don't think that would have satisfied people either. I would have liked to know at least what happened with the characters. The epilogue files at the end were fanfic-cky as hell and they didn't even include Diana, Phi and Sigma.

Spoiler: The Cast

I actually loathed Mira and how she was handled. In her heart ripper ending I actually almost praised it for a semi-accurate portrayal of psychoticism. Specifically her direct route to her objectives without any understanding of consequences. Then she describes how she feels out of touch with emotions (which is why she tries to touch hearts) Left that ending feeling great....then I found it wildly inconsistent. She kills Junpei in a brutal method that doesn't even match her MO (his chest is completely intact) and in a number of endings she show's emotion as well. She stabs Phi with radical 6 showing an understanding of vengeance and anger even though its almost certainly the path she would have chosen. She cackles maniacally as she kills Eric in the path where they all inject radical 6. All wildly inconsistent with her understanding of emotions and her back story. The other murderers had a plan and reason behind their kills which made Mira seem like cheap tension.

Eric however I agree with you on. I can see the worst parts of myself in him and that's disconcerting but it does make him kind of relatable in his normality

Spoiler:

I can think of a few reasons why Mira didn't rip other hearts out.

If I recall his death correctly, for Junpei, he was meant to be killed in a way that wouldn't spur him to jump ("my ability to SHIFT was cut off"). If Mira went straight for his heart, that would trigger his ability. Also, who says that Mira didn't rip him open after he was dead? Eric was already dead when she ripped him open. And even if she didn't, I recall that the reason why she was targeting Eric was because she could tell he loved her in the similar way to her first victim; maybe she wasn't interested in taking other victims that didn't show similar qualities because she had already done that multiple times before and didn't get much out of it.

Mira cackling maniacally could just be explained away as a side effect of Radical 6, because it's known to make people go crazy. It does seem weird that she does seem to have some emotions when she says she has none though. Mental health is a difficult subject, so I dunno, maybe it's possible IRL, or it is a writing problem.

Why are you guys saying that Left was dropped? Wasn't the 'Left will appear but not as the man we knew in VLR' comment referring to Sean, since his personality is based off him and everything?

So I finished the game just yesterday. I think overall it's at the level of 999 but pretty far from VLR in my personal scale.

And now more long and spoilery thoughts:

Spoiler:

First off, the art style was borderline narmy. The derp faces the characters kept making just made laugh in the middle of extremely serious situations. Junperi's head in the pantry is one of the worst offenders. I think VLR's style of using sprites and 3D cutscenes when necessary was way better.

The fragments thing was kinda cool as a narrative experiment but I don't think it was implemented to well. A lot of characters are left hanging in many histories (like, what happened with Phi in the history with the rec room) and the way they're unlocked makes you play all the puzzles first and then see the story, instead of being interconnected. I also missed the fact of mixing the characters and seeing different interactions depending on the path you choose, which was one of the best parts of 999 and VLR.

Now, for the characters, I don't think they're particularly better or worse than in the other installments, although I've never considered character development to be one of the main strengths of this games.

Akane and Junpei seem to change personalities in every game they appear. I guess it makes sense considering the situation, but sometimes it seems like a cheap way to build tension between them that in the end doesn't go anywhere so...what's the point?

Carlos is the Quark of this ZTD. The game makes him looks like there's going to be some huge twist with him but...nope. He's just a noble firefighter that wants to do the right thing. We don't even know why he's even there. Phi, Akane and Sigma sneaked in. Junpei wanted to find Akane. Mira had to be to add danger or whatever (although the Decision game was already pretty dangerous without her) and Eric tagged along. But Carlos? The only thing that makes him special is that he's a SHIFTer, but that's not so special when half the cast can do it. Why it had to be him as opposed to anyone else?

I could say the same for Phi, but her case is actually worse because she's been set up for two games for...basically nothing. Her presence there doesn't add anything. The only big twist involving her doesn't require her presence, her only relevant purpose is getting injected with Radical-6 in one history and her biggest secret is that her hair is naturally red (I've just realized that that was foreshadowing as I was writing the sentence. Really, I'm not kidding XD). She was so underused that I was expecting her to be Zero. I still think it would have been cool. Maybe not as the girl, we know, but she's a SHIFTer that's been transported through spacetime twice. I'm sure some alternate version of her could have pulled the same shit as Delta. She could have even used the same motivations.

Sigma seems to be two different characters. In the cutscenes he's all serious as someone his age is supposed to be, but in the room puzzles he's happily cracking jokes about Phi's chest size. Which is pretty awkward now after the big reveal.

Diana is basically Luna, which makes a lot of sense and since Luna was one of my favorites characters from VLR, I obviously like her.

And speaking of Luna, Sean's twist was basically the same as hers, just not that well done, so...whatever.

I liked Mira a lot. I think she must be my favorite 'evil player' of the trilogy but she doesn't really has much of an impact on anything. I didn't like that Dio and Ace were behind 85% of the stuff that happened in their respective games either, but there has to be some middle ground.

I also liked Eric, because he reacted to most things as a normal human being would if they were put in that situation.

I liked most of the endings, but sadly the ones that I didn't like were the final ones.

I thought the Q-1 ending was pretty good and gave Mira some character development that I honestly didn't expect her to get. I found her description of the warmth of Eric's heart almost cute. Is that too weird? Because I think that's what they were going for.

The endings leading up to VLR's reality were fairly satisfying and explained most things I wanted to know, although they left a plothole or two around.

The babies' twist was probably the only thing in the game that actually managed to blow my mind, as opposed to VLR where everything blew my mind. My only problem with it it that it doesn't really go anywhere. The fact that Delta is Diana's and Sigma's son is not brought up at all after the Zero reveal. Not even a 'I'm not angry, I'm disappointed'? So much wasted potential.

The Zero reveal was pretty lame. It's not that I can't believe it, but more that it feels like a copout. Isn't it one of Knock's rules? That the culprit can't be someone who hasn't been introduced? And it's not even broken in a incredibly smart way like it happened with all the twists in VLR. And Delta isn't that great as a character, either. He just comes out and says 'My motivations are complex'. Have you ever heard about 'Show, don't tell', sir? Or what about at least bothering to explain why your motives are complex instead of using your kinda asspully ability to shoot yourself? Because the only motives we really know are a)assuring his own existence like Akane was trying to do in 999 and b) preventing a huge catastrophe like Sigma was trying to do in VLR. And it isn't clear why he needed those specific people to do that. Diana and Sigma are obvious, and I guess that Akane, Junpei and Phi are necessary due to their adventures, but what about the others. Was Mira there just to increase danger or was it a punishment for her crimes? Was Eric relevant or did Delta just allow him to join to make it 9? Why did he choose Carlos? And what purpose did the Decision Game serve exactly?

As for the final ending, my only thought was 'That's it'? But I guess there really was no other option other than ' And they lived happily ever after' if they wanted to actually conclude the saga. The only reason all the twists in VLR worked was that they were justified by Sigma's plan, and the plan itself only made sense if there was a sequel in the horizon. So it was either a simple ending like this one or an ending full of crazy twist that leaves behind more questions than answers, and I don't think that would have satisfied people either. I would have liked to know at least what happened with the characters. The epilogue files at the end were fanfic-cky as hell and they didn't even include Diana, Phi and Sigma.

Spoiler: The Cast

I actually loathed Mira and how she was handled. In her heart ripper ending I actually almost praised it for a semi-accurate portrayal of psychoticism. Specifically her direct route to her objectives without any understanding of consequences. Then she describes how she feels out of touch with emotions (which is why she tries to touch hearts) Left that ending feeling great....then I found it wildly inconsistent. She kills Junpei in a brutal method that doesn't even match her MO (his chest is completely intact) and in a number of endings she show's emotion as well. She stabs Phi with radical 6 showing an understanding of vengeance and anger even though its almost certainly the path she would have chosen. She cackles maniacally as she kills Eric in the path where they all inject radical 6. All wildly inconsistent with her understanding of emotions and her back story. The other murderers had a plan and reason behind their kills which made Mira seem like cheap tension.

Eric however I agree with you on. I can see the worst parts of myself in him and that's disconcerting but it does make him kind of relatable in his normality

Spoiler: Mira

Actually, people with antisocial personality disorder do have emotions. What they lack is empathy, the ability to understand or share other people's feelings, which is pretty clear in Mira. And since it's pretty hard to learn what emotions are without comparing yours with others, she thinks she doesn't have any. But as you pointed, she does have feelings, she simply doesn't understand them.

In any case, I still like her even if she's not an accurate portrayal of anything. I just liked that she was actually insane and not simply trying to get out. I think my perspective about her may be affected by the fact that I played the part where he kills everybody before getting her ending. That's the thing about the narrative with fragments, your experience can vary depending on the order you play them.

And now that I think of it, we know that she was the one who killed Junpei, but was she the one to dismember him, or did Zero do it just to settle the puzzle in the pantry? It seems like something he'd do.

Why are you guys saying that Left was dropped? Wasn't the 'Left will appear but not as the man we knew in VLR' comment referring to Sean, since his personality is based off him and everything?

So I finished the game just yesterday. I think overall it's at the level of 999 but pretty far from VLR in my personal scale.

And now more long and spoilery thoughts:

Spoiler:

First off, the art style was borderline narmy. The derp faces the characters kept making just made laugh in the middle of extremely serious situations. Junperi's head in the pantry is one of the worst offenders. I think VLR's style of using sprites and 3D cutscenes when necessary was way better.

The fragments thing was kinda cool as a narrative experiment but I don't think it was implemented to well. A lot of characters are left hanging in many histories (like, what happened with Phi in the history with the rec room) and the way they're unlocked makes you play all the puzzles first and then see the story, instead of being interconnected. I also missed the fact of mixing the characters and seeing different interactions depending on the path you choose, which was one of the best parts of 999 and VLR.

Now, for the characters, I don't think they're particularly better or worse than in the other installments, although I've never considered character development to be one of the main strengths of this games.

Akane and Junpei seem to change personalities in every game they appear. I guess it makes sense considering the situation, but sometimes it seems like a cheap way to build tension between them that in the end doesn't go anywhere so...what's the point?

Carlos is the Quark of this ZTD. The game makes him looks like there's going to be some huge twist with him but...nope. He's just a noble firefighter that wants to do the right thing. We don't even know why he's even there. Phi, Akane and Sigma sneaked in. Junpei wanted to find Akane. Mira had to be to add danger or whatever (although the Decision game was already pretty dangerous without her) and Eric tagged along. But Carlos? The only thing that makes him special is that he's a SHIFTer, but that's not so special when half the cast can do it. Why it had to be him as opposed to anyone else?

I could say the same for Phi, but her case is actually worse because she's been set up for two games for...basically nothing. Her presence there doesn't add anything. The only big twist involving her doesn't require her presence, her only relevant purpose is getting injected with Radical-6 in one history and her biggest secret is that her hair is naturally red (I've just realized that that was foreshadowing as I was writing the sentence. Really, I'm not kidding XD). She was so underused that I was expecting her to be Zero. I still think it would have been cool. Maybe not as the girl, we know, but she's a SHIFTer that's been transported through spacetime twice. I'm sure some alternate version of her could have pulled the same shit as Delta. She could have even used the same motivations.

Sigma seems to be two different characters. In the cutscenes he's all serious as someone his age is supposed to be, but in the room puzzles he's happily cracking jokes about Phi's chest size. Which is pretty awkward now after the big reveal.

Diana is basically Luna, which makes a lot of sense and since Luna was one of my favorites characters from VLR, I obviously like her.

And speaking of Luna, Sean's twist was basically the same as hers, just not that well done, so...whatever.

I liked Mira a lot. I think she must be my favorite 'evil player' of the trilogy but she doesn't really has much of an impact on anything. I didn't like that Dio and Ace were behind 85% of the stuff that happened in their respective games either, but there has to be some middle ground.

I also liked Eric, because he reacted to most things as a normal human being would if they were put in that situation.

I liked most of the endings, but sadly the ones that I didn't like were the final ones.

I thought the Q-1 ending was pretty good and gave Mira some character development that I honestly didn't expect her to get. I found her description of the warmth of Eric's heart almost cute. Is that too weird? Because I think that's what they were going for.

The endings leading up to VLR's reality were fairly satisfying and explained most things I wanted to know, although they left a plothole or two around.

The babies' twist was probably the only thing in the game that actually managed to blow my mind, as opposed to VLR where everything blew my mind. My only problem with it it that it doesn't really go anywhere. The fact that Delta is Diana's and Sigma's son is not brought up at all after the Zero reveal. Not even a 'I'm not angry, I'm disappointed'? So much wasted potential.

The Zero reveal was pretty lame. It's not that I can't believe it, but more that it feels like a copout. Isn't it one of Knock's rules? That the culprit can't be someone who hasn't been introduced? And it's not even broken in a incredibly smart way like it happened with all the twists in VLR. And Delta isn't that great as a character, either. He just comes out and says 'My motivations are complex'. Have you ever heard about 'Show, don't tell', sir? Or what about at least bothering to explain why your motives are complex instead of using your kinda asspully ability to shoot yourself? Because the only motives we really know are a)assuring his own existence like Akane was trying to do in 999 and b) preventing a huge catastrophe like Sigma was trying to do in VLR. And it isn't clear why he needed those specific people to do that. Diana and Sigma are obvious, and I guess that Akane, Junpei and Phi are necessary due to their adventures, but what about the others. Was Mira there just to increase danger or was it a punishment for her crimes? Was Eric relevant or did Delta just allow him to join to make it 9? Why did he choose Carlos? And what purpose did the Decision Game serve exactly?

As for the final ending, my only thought was 'That's it'? But I guess there really was no other option other than ' And they lived happily ever after' if they wanted to actually conclude the saga. The only reason all the twists in VLR worked was that they were justified by Sigma's plan, and the plan itself only made sense if there was a sequel in the horizon. So it was either a simple ending like this one or an ending full of crazy twist that leaves behind more questions than answers, and I don't think that would have satisfied people either. I would have liked to know at least what happened with the characters. The epilogue files at the end were fanfic-cky as hell and they didn't even include Diana, Phi and Sigma.

Spoiler: The Cast

I actually loathed Mira and how she was handled. In her heart ripper ending I actually almost praised it for a semi-accurate portrayal of psychoticism. Specifically her direct route to her objectives without any understanding of consequences. Then she describes how she feels out of touch with emotions (which is why she tries to touch hearts) Left that ending feeling great....then I found it wildly inconsistent. She kills Junpei in a brutal method that doesn't even match her MO (his chest is completely intact) and in a number of endings she show's emotion as well. She stabs Phi with radical 6 showing an understanding of vengeance and anger even though its almost certainly the path she would have chosen. She cackles maniacally as she kills Eric in the path where they all inject radical 6. All wildly inconsistent with her understanding of emotions and her back story. The other murderers had a plan and reason behind their kills which made Mira seem like cheap tension.

Eric however I agree with you on. I can see the worst parts of myself in him and that's disconcerting but it does make him kind of relatable in his normality

Spoiler: Mira

Actually, people with antisocial personality disorder do have emotions. What they lack is empathy, the ability to understand or share other people's feelings, which is pretty clear in Mira. And since it's pretty hard to learn what emotions are without comparing yours with others, she thinks she doesn't have any. But as you pointed, she does have feelings, she simply doesn't understand them.

In any case, I still like her even if she's not an accurate portrayal of anything. I just liked that she was actually insane and not simply trying to get out. I think my perspective about her may be affected by the fact that I played the part where he kills everybody before getting her ending. That's the thing about the narrative with fragments, your experience can vary depending on the order you play them.

And now that I think of it, we know that she was the one who killed Junpei, but was she the one to dismember him, or did Zero do it just to settle the puzzle in the pantry? It seems like something he'd do.

Spoiler: Mira epilogue

Here's food for thought! In the written epilogue Mira and Q bust out of prison and plan to use the transporter to "fix" Mira's crimes of the past. Therefore they will invalidate ZTD and maybe the other games by changing history. If Mira was never a murderer then neither she nor Eric would have been made to play the decision game. If Akanes mother was never killed who knows what kind of effect that could have had on Santa and her.

In erasing hwe mistakes Mira may doom the planet's future.

Made by Chesu+Zombee

You thought you could be safe in your courts, with your laws and attorneys to protect you. In this world only I am law, my word is fact, my power is absolute.

Here's food for thought! In the written epilogue Mira and Q bust out of prison and plan to use the transporter to "fix" Mira's crimes of the past. Therefore they will invalidate ZTD and maybe the other games by changing history. If Mira was never a murderer then neither she nor Eric would have been made to play the decision game. If Akanes mother was never killed who knows what kind of effect that could have had on Santa and her.

In erasing hwe mistakes Mira may doom the planet's future.

Spoiler:

#dontkillthesnail

It might screw over that future but won't affect the "good" one they're in now

Here's food for thought! In the written epilogue Mira and Q bust out of prison and plan to use the transporter to "fix" Mira's crimes of the past. Therefore they will invalidate ZTD and maybe the other games by changing history. If Mira was never a murderer then neither she nor Eric would have been made to play the decision game. If Akanes mother was never killed who knows what kind of effect that could have had on Santa and her.

In erasing hwe mistakes Mira may doom the planet's future.

Spoiler:

#dontkillthesnail

It might screw over that future but won't affect the "good" one they're in now

Kinda ruins the point of trying to change ANYTHING when you put it that way.

Not unless there's some FF8 time compression nonsense somewhere.

Made by Chesu+Zombee

You thought you could be safe in your courts, with your laws and attorneys to protect you. In this world only I am law, my word is fact, my power is absolute.

Are you saying he won't like Sean (because Sean doesn't change that much) or are you being cheeky and saying he won't like Q/Delta?

Spoiler: Endgame Response

Right on both counts? Not crazy about either, really. Especially since we know so little about Delta and his "complex" motivations.

I get that he needed to ensure he was born, but what about everything else? He says he engineered the release of Radical 6 in order to stop a terrorist from sparking a nuclear war that wipes out humanity entirely, but how does he know about this event? It's been established that Delta can't SHIFT, only mind hack, so he couldn't have gotten the information from a future self. If he got the information from another SHIFTer, it really should have been explained in the game. Aside from that, why does he need the decision game to release Radical 6? Couldn't he have just as easily found some dying person and infected them?

Personally, I'm thinking his explanation about stopping the terrorist was a load of BS meant to send everyone on a wild goose chase for a terrorist that doesn't exist. After all, he basically stated he enjoyed watching them all make their decisions in their respective crises. Who's to say he didn't engineer one last crisis just for kicks?

Thoughts on the rest of the new cast members...

Still hate Mira. Her turning herself in at the end didn't do a thing for me.

Still hate Eric. While his sob backstory is pretty sad, it still doesn't make him any more likable. Now, towards the end, I thought they were going to reveal Eric was Zero the whole time. Consider: Zero said he was dead in a message that existed during the world line of Q Team's execution. All other candidates are either from VLR, die sometime between now and VLR, or are in the room. Since Sean was seen at the same time as Zero during one of the endings, we know it can't be him. That leaves Mira or Eric. We know Eric has a dead younger brother too, so it seemed for a little while that he was going to turn out to be Zero. A shame he wasn't, really, since that would have at least made him more interesting.

Still don't care about Q/Sean. That "happy end" he got in the virtual world just seemed like the height of pointlessness to me.

Carlos, I really liked. He actions when he believed himself to be Junpei's killer told me everything I needed to know about him.

Diana was pretty likable too. Of course, I liked Luna a lot, so it stands to reason I'd end up liking whoever she was based on. The reveal that Phi was her daughter, while it didn't really end up going anywhere, at least resulted in a really heartwarming moment when they remembered their alternate lives, so I was pretty happy with that. On the other hand, the reveal that Zero/Delta was her son did absolutely nothing for the plot. It could literally have been completely unrelated to anyone in the cast, and it wouldn't have made a lick of difference outside of "I had to make the game happen to ensure I'd be born."

Also, the ending is really unsatisfying. I didn't find out until after turning off the game that there were secret files revealed after the final ending.These secret files were really disappointing because the latter quarter of the game was almost entirely exposition in cinematic form. Would it have killed them to do the same for at least Akane and Junpei? On that note, leaving it up in the air whether Carlos ended up killing Delta or not rather bugged me too. I thought there might have been something after the credits, but no such luck.

This part of my thoughts lacks spoilers, so I'll go ahead and post it here. It seemed there were significantly fewer puzzle rooms than in VLR. I believe there were about 15-16 in that one. Not sure how many were here, but perhaps because of the way the game was laid out, it felt like less, so I was kind of disappointed in that regard as well.

Overall, I enjoyed the game, but VLR was still the best as far as I'm concerned.

Just wanted to mention two things in response to your spoiler section. I kind of agree to the rest.

Sean's "good" ending wasn't really meant to be a good ending. I have the feeling that was meant to be interpreted as a pointless existence in a fake world. There are other games that would raise the question of whether or not living in a fake world indistinguishable from the real one is really a bad thing, but this one didn't really do anything. Besides, it was also overly ideal, so it was not really like a real world at all anyway.

I think one of the reasons why you don't see whether or not Carlos shot Delta is because Delta promised to not influence his decision, and by extension the player can't choose either. Although... there was that decision about whether or not to SHIFT before self destruct after Delta killed himself, so there's an inconsistency with the player control being Delta's mind control... So now I dunno.(the other "decisions" made when Delta was dead were probability based, so they didn't need to be influenced)

(the other "decisions" made when Delta was dead were probability based, so they didn't need to be influenced)

Spoiler: Response to blahmoomoo

Not exactly. The decision in the incinerator room had an element of probability to it, but there was still the decision to pull the trigger and hope for the best, or abstain from pulling the trigger, dooming Phi to a fiery death, but ensuring that Sigma wouldn't die.

So no, assuming the decisions made by the player are always supposed to be made by Zero, in-game, that would mean the decision in the incinerator room should have been on autopilot, thus invalidating the idea that the final decision wasn't shown because Zero wasn't the one making it that time.

(the other "decisions" made when Delta was dead were probability based, so they didn't need to be influenced)

Spoiler: Response to blahmoomoo

Not exactly. The decision in the incinerator room had an element of probability to it, but there was still the decision to pull the trigger and hope for the best, or abstain from pulling the trigger, dooming Phi to a fiery death, but ensuring that Sigma wouldn't die.

So no, assuming the decisions made by the player are always supposed to be made by Zero, in-game, that would mean the decision in the incinerator room should have been on autopilot, thus invalidating the idea that the final decision wasn't shown because Zero wasn't the one making it that time.

Spoiler:

Ah, good point. I guess Delta only needed to influence choices that had no chance of being made without influence, like the ones that resulted in the characters going "wait, I didn't do that" because they never would have without betraying their character. The Perceptive ending wouldn't have made any sense otherwise.

This really weakens the game mechanic twist even more. You the player are looking through Delta's unreliable narrator eyes... except when you aren't because he's dead. You the player are also making the decisions for the characters through Delta... unless he's dead and/or didn't need to influence the answer because it would be in character to make either decision. Unlike previous twists that played off of game mechanics, where there were no exceptions (except insignificant ones like the item screen in 999 breaking the rule).

I just started playing it and got an ending after like 2 minutes WTF :D

Spoiler: My first play

It was like it dropped me right in the middle of the game. Everyone starts accusing the kid with a funny helmet of being the kidnapper, he pprotests "It wasn't me!", a coin is flipped and then we're all outside. Then everyone is like "Err, who is... this kid?" ?

I just started playing it and got an ending after like 2 minutes WTF :D

Spoiler: My first play

It was like it dropped me right in the middle of the game. Everyone starts accusing the kid with a funny helmet of being the kidnapper, he pprotests "It wasn't me!", a coin is flipped and then we're all outside. Then everyone is like "Err, who is... this kid?" ?

Spoiler: Opening fragment

Go back and choose the opposite side of the flipped coin. That'll start the game proper.

So, I've beaten 999 and I'm like on the last bit of Virtue's Last Reward, and I'm amped for this game, so what I want to know is, in your opinion, which port is better for this game? 3DS, Vita or PC?

I was planning to get it on PC SIMPLY because Steam sales will make the game cheaper by the time I get to buying it, but, if the Dual screen/Touch screen controls for the 3DS gives the game a step up, or the Vita version has something, then I wouldn't mind at all dishing out the full price for them on those handhelds.

Noted, I have a PSTV, not a Vita, so yeah, I mean playing it on a TV is appealing to me. (Hopefully it's compatible for PSTV.) But if there's a lot of touch screen elements, then I wouldn't get the Vita version since I don't have a real Vita.

AHEM, uh, long story short, yeah I would love to hear your opinions on which port is better, if there is a difference at all. Thanks guys!

3DS has some occasional franerate issues, but it includes a notepad feature and lets you use the touchscreen, so that's my preferred choice. Aside from that, there's not mch difference between ports. Assuming you have a decent PC, I'd say go for that.

"It's never too late to learn that growing old doesn't have to mean growing up. Stay curious, stay weird, stay kind, and don't let anyone ever tell you you aren't smart or brave or worthy enough." -Stanford Pines, Gravity Falls

PC version worked perfectly fine for me, although there are a few minor control quirks:

Notes can only be drawn, and without a touchscreen, it can be annoying to use. I just ended up using Notepad on a separate computer so I wouldn't have to draw letters with my mouse. Still can be useful to draw shapes that you want to refer to elsewhere.

There are several text inputs in the game, but since the game was designed for devices without a keyboard, you can't directly type in words; you have to use the onscreen keyboard.

No other complaints about that version of the game. Well, I guess if you want to be snooty, the game does have a launcher instead of an in-game way to change graphics settings, but that's not a big deal. At least there is antialiasing!

Oh thanks for the info you guys! I finished VLR and I'm already aching for this one so I'm constantly looking at my options for which port to get. Good to hear there aren't MAJOR differences though it seems.

blahmoomoo wrote:

Notes can only be drawn, and without a touchscreen, it can be annoying to use. I just ended up using Notepad on a separate computer so I wouldn't have to draw letters with my mouse. Still can be useful to draw shapes that you want to refer to elsewhere.

And whaaaa, you said this as a bad thing, but that's honestly a SUPER plus for me! I was prepared to have Photoshop open along side the game and draw my notes on that, ( I did that for 999 too actually.) Thing is, I have a Drawing Tablet, so the fact there's an IN GAME note feature with the mouse controls is selling me!

*A good game, sure, and I enjoyed playing it, but it left me pretty unaffected now that I've finished it. It's not something that'll be on my mind for days from here, as was the case with VLR and 999 (thinking about that damn sudoku still gives me chills). Especially with how grand VLR was and how it built up to something as grand or grander, the, well... pay-off, was pretty unimpressive.*What I associate the Zero Escape series with is a pile of plot-twists, but as others has said before me, the twists in this game weren't that mindblowing, not the ones I didn't figure out either. I guess it comes down to poor execution because the twist I was the most surprised about was that the wards were connected and everyone had been awake at different times. And then Zero came totally out of Left field (hehe). I can appreciate it more after having read this thread where the hints were mentioned, but while playing it just felt cheap to me. Compared to VLR's Zero that I had figured out beforehand but the reveal still paid off, and 999's Zero reveal was masterfully done in my opinion. Although I do like that we're always seeing through Zero's eyes. I was wondering if they were gonna pull that one off again this time, and how.*I feel like Akane had pretty much reverted back to "Kanny" again. I had been hoping to see moreof what she was actually like since her June-self seemed to have been an act, but alas, this did not happen. "Only God gets to decide who lives or dies"... said the person who had three people put into her own Nonary game just to have them killed as revenge. Her coldly calculating ways from the previous games shone through one time or two, but her whole character just seemed weird and inconsistent, both throughout this game itself and when compared to the other two. They could have done so much more with her.*This game is so damn ugly. Couldn't stand the looks. Cringe-worthy and unkanny (hoho). Very much narm. Junpei's severed head made me laugh as well. Also Akane's ponytail is stuck in her dress. Her hair going in and out of her scarf in 999 was one thing, this is just too much.*I liked the cast well enough (Sean and Diana being my favourites), but, perhaps by the way it was played out with the team-switching and stuff, I didn't really connect with anyone. Like in VLR I pretty much felt as if I WAS Sigma.*One thing that is kinda neat, or stupid, is that the big bads are all connected. Like Ace with Free the soul, and Free the soul... ultimately just trying to stop that unnamed unknown religious fanatic that Delta for unknown reasons knew was gonna start a nuclear war.*Not even gonna consider the "epilogues". I'm just gonna headcanon them as fanfic written by Delta.*Damn, Junpei and Akane, you bring up Aoi and then change the subject before Akane has answered how he's doing. Aoi is one of my absolute favourites so I wanted something more than just hearing his name.*The sad thing is that Kyle won't exist and Tenmyouji won't adopt Quark. :( And what about Dio? *I never got the free the soul ceremony thing.Zero: You have to go.Akane: No way I'll go.Zero: But you WILL go.Why will she?

*In conclusion, I liked it but not nearly as much as the other two. I just felt like... I dunno, like something was missing.

*A good game, sure, and I enjoyed playing it, but it left me pretty unaffected now that I've finished it. It's not something that'll be on my mind for days from here, as was the case with VLR and 999 (thinking about that damn sudoku still gives me chills). Especially with how grand VLR was and how it built up to something as grand or grander, the, well... pay-off, was pretty unimpressive.*What I associate the Zero Escape series with is a pile of plot-twists, but as others has said before me, the twists in this game weren't that mindblowing, not the ones I didn't figure out either. I guess it comes down to poor execution because the twist I was the most surprised about was that the wards were connected and everyone had been awake at different times. And then Zero came totally out of Left field (hehe). I can appreciate it more after having read this thread where the hints were mentioned, but while playing it just felt cheap to me. Compared to VLR's Zero that I had figured out beforehand but the reveal still paid off, and 999's Zero reveal was masterfully done in my opinion. Although I do like that we're always seeing through Zero's eyes. I was wondering if they were gonna pull that one off again this time, and how.*I feel like Akane had pretty much reverted back to "Kanny" again. I had been hoping to see moreof what she was actually like since her June-self seemed to have been an act, but alas, this did not happen. "Only God gets to decide who lives or dies"... said the person who had three people put into her own Nonary game just to have them killed as revenge. Her coldly calculating ways from the previous games shone through one time or two, but her whole character just seemed weird and inconsistent, both throughout this game itself and when compared to the other two. They could have done so much more with her.*This game is so damn ugly. Couldn't stand the looks. Cringe-worthy and unkanny (hoho). Very much narm. Junpei's severed head made me laugh as well. Also Akane's ponytail is stuck in her dress. Her hair going in and out of her scarf in 999 was one thing, this is just too much.*I liked the cast well enough (Sean and Diana being my favourites), but, perhaps by the way it was played out with the team-switching and stuff, I didn't really connect with anyone. Like in VLR I pretty much felt as if I WAS Sigma.*One thing that is kinda neat, or stupid, is that the big bads are all connected. Like Ace with Free the soul, and Free the soul... ultimately just trying to stop that unnamed unknown religious fanatic that Delta for unknown reasons knew was gonna start a nuclear war.*Not even gonna consider the "epilogues". I'm just gonna headcanon them as fanfic written by Delta.*Damn, Junpei and Akane, you bring up Aoi and then change the subject before Akane has answered how he's doing. Aoi is one of my absolute favourites so I wanted something more than just hearing his name.*The sad thing is that Kyle won't exist and Tenmyouji won't adopt Quark. :( And what about Dio? *I never got the free the soul ceremony thing.Zero: You have to go.Akane: No way I'll go.Zero: But you WILL go.Why will she?

*In conclusion, I liked it but not nearly as much as the other two. I just felt like... I dunno, like something was missing.

Spoiler:

I'll tell you what's missing... a good god damned ending... or maybe more loose ends actually being tied up... or maybe I don't know... WHAT WAS PROMISED BY UCHIKOSHI... but no... he just had to rewrite the whole god damned thing because he was "bored"

"There is but one last shred of cheer for a soul far beyond redemption: The bitter darkness that lies at the very bottom of this mug." -Diego Armando

A collection of 999 and VLR, named Zero Escape: The Nonary Games, will be released on PS4 and Vita in Spring 2017. The blog post says it'll be exclusive to those platforms, but hopefully what they really mean is it won't come to the PS3, since these games were hinted to be coming to Steam earlier.

999 also has voice acting now, in both Japanese and English, along with the upgraded visuals. Hardly anything is mentioned about VLR, so I'd assume it's the same game in a different package. I guess it's possible that they'll do some tweaks like animation fixes and texture upgrades, but who knows.

Spoiler: hints to a 999 spoiler

Now that the ADV mode thing is a lot more visible now, I'm pretty sure that's how the game is getting around the dual screen thing in the original DS game (that is, it'll change between that and novel mode or something like that).

Now that the ADV mode thing is a lot more visible now, I'm pretty sure that's how the game is getting around the dual screen thing in the original DS game (that is, it'll change between that and novel mode or something like that).

The remasters and new ports for the series are indeed good news! I hope it'll get a lot of people into it!But sorry if this is a stupid question, but that does ADV mode refer to?

Spoiler: Hinting at the same 999 Spoiler

Because yeah, I was always wondering how exactly these remasters were going to hand the dual screen plot point.

Now that the ADV mode thing is a lot more visible now, I'm pretty sure that's how the game is getting around the dual screen thing in the original DS game (that is, it'll change between that and novel mode or something like that).

The remasters and new ports for the series are indeed good news! I hope it'll get a lot of people into it!But sorry if this is a stupid question, but that does ADV mode refer to?

Spoiler: Hinting at the same 999 Spoiler

Because yeah, I was always wondering how exactly these remasters were going to hand the dual screen plot point.

Spoiler: Just to avoid implications of what's going on here

My guess is that ADV mode stands for Adventure Mode (first person perspective), so there'll probably be something like novel mode (third person perspective). I wonder if it'll be something that can be switched between or if the game will do it for you like in the original. It would be weird to show that ADV Mode indicator if there was no control over it.

Of course, this is all speculation. Screenshots haven't covered all of the gameplay yet, so I could be wrong. But it seems possible to me.

The voice acting in the 999 remake will have the same VAs from VLR where appropriate.

As I guessed from the screenshots, there are two different game modes: Adventure and Novel. Adventure is more like a visual novel with animated characters and Novel is more like a book. Still no screenshots of what Novel looks like yet. I wonder if it'll be like how Last Window had a literal novelization of itself inside the game, or if it'll just be the same text in a different format.

Apparently the 999 iOS version had another difference besides the lack of puzzles and different style, but it won't be in this version.

Spoiler: 999 iOS

There was an additional "syringe" ending.

VLR is identical to the original version, other than a few typo fixes.

As I guessed from the screenshots, there are two different game modes: Adventure and Novel. Adventure is more like a visual novel with animated characters and Novel is more like a book. Still no screenshots of what Novel looks like yet. I wonder if it'll be like how Last Window had a literal novelization of itself inside the game, or if it'll just be the same text in a different format.

There's actually a big difference between what Japanese gamers (and companies) consider and call (visual/novel) novels, and Western game culture. Games like Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa for example are not considered novel games in Japan, they're always called adventure games.

Novel games (in Japan) are what people in the West sometimes call kinetic novels and are basically digital Choose-Your-Own-Adventure games. So games where you usually have prose projected on a background with music, with gameplay usually consisting out of finding out the right combination of storyline choices. Think the prose parts of 999, or Kamaitachi no Yoru/Banshee's Last Cry and 428 or Gakko de Atta Kowai Hanashi.

So in this case, Adventure mode is probably really simply an adventure game, with characters on the screen talking with distinct dialogue boxes, while I assume the Novel part is true visual/sound novel gameplay (so the prose parts of 999).

"One dumbbell, Watson! Consider an athlete with one dumbbell! Picture to yourself the unilateral development, the imminent danger of a spinal curvature. Shocking, Watson, shocking!" - The Valley of Fear

So in this case, Adventure mode is probably really simply an adventure game, with characters on the screen talking with distinct dialogue boxes, while I assume the Novel part is true visual/sound novel gameplay (so the prose parts of 999).

Right, that's what I mean. Adventure is like a first person perspective visual novel (the screenshots show this) while novel is probably going to be like a narrated story of the same events (the screenshots show that you can switch between the two). 999 on the DS had both of these, except the game would switch between them automatically so there was no full version of the story in one style. So I'm wondering if they're going to expand the text to make them fully cover each other.

So in this case, Adventure mode is probably really simply an adventure game, with characters on the screen talking with distinct dialogue boxes, while I assume the Novel part is true visual/sound novel gameplay (so the prose parts of 999).

Right, that's what I mean. Adventure is like a first person perspective visual novel (the screenshots show this) while novel is probably going to be like a narrated story of the same events (the screenshots show that you can switch between the two). 999 on the DS had both of these, except the game would switch between them automatically so there was no full version of the story in one style.

Ah, I did understand that's what you meant, but I thought it was interesting how the difference between Japanese/Western game culture showed itself in this particular release by the different names for the modes. For example, you once again describe the Adventure mode "a first person perspective visual novel", which is probably what most Western gamers would do, while Japanese gamers who see characters + dialogue boxes are more likely to refer to them as adventure games. The term (visual/sound) novel is used specifically for the prose/narrated type of games in Japan, which in turn still has no unified genre game in Western game culture (kinetic novel etc.).

"One dumbbell, Watson! Consider an athlete with one dumbbell! Picture to yourself the unilateral development, the imminent danger of a spinal curvature. Shocking, Watson, shocking!" - The Valley of Fear

Oh, huh, so you're saying that VNs formatted like CLANNAD are considered vastly distinct from ones like Higurashi and Narcissu? I've usually heard the former style referred to as visual novels (generically) while the latter are referred to as sound novels (as a subset of visual novel), but I hadn't heard of anything like these referred to as adventure games before. Interesting.

Higurashi is considered a novel game, mainly because of the gameplay. Novel games are based on Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novels, so gameplay is usually the ability to make story-changing choices (Option 1: Check the basement. Option 2: Check the kitchen), as opposed to directly controlling a character (through a menu) to do stuff. Some even forego with the changing-the-story thing, like Higurashi. My example of just characters + dialogue box was not the best, I realize now (though a lot of people do consider games with that look novel games, even though they are not considered so in Japan.

But games like Ace Attorney or Danganronpa are clearly adventure games, as they are based on command/menu style adventure games like Maniac Mansion. So yo have actual commands there that influence the game world and the characters, like Talk, Examine, Use and stuff. Ace Attorney for example is actually mostly a highly contextual series of inventory puzzles like you'd see in Monkey Island. 999 is a true hybrid in that sense: it mixes the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure gameplay of novel games when you choose which doors you take, which in turn change the story (and it has actual prose parts), but also classic adventure gameplay through the escape-the-room parts, where you have traditional inventory puzzles. 999 is quite unique actually, and while I myself didn't really like the game that much, I did always think it was cool that Chunsoft mixed the genres.

Sound novel is actually the original name of the genre. Chunsoft invented it with the Super Famicom games Otogoriso and Kamaitachi no Yoru/Banshee's Last Cry, and they called it sound novels, and copyrighted the term. Later, other companies also made games in the same genre, but as they couldn't use the term "sound novel", they went with other genre titles like novel game, or visual novel.

"One dumbbell, Watson! Consider an athlete with one dumbbell! Picture to yourself the unilateral development, the imminent danger of a spinal curvature. Shocking, Watson, shocking!" - The Valley of Fear

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum